Press a button…watch the progress bar move. Press the button again…watch the progress bar move. Collect stuff…watch the progress bar. Replant seeds…watch the progress bar. Seeds will grow so you can press a button and watch…that’s right…another progress bar. Rinse…repeat. That is Farmville in a nutshell and so far…it’s not a game.

For me, a Game has a couple of aspects:
1. Fun (subjective…clearly)
2. Challenge (mental or physical)
3. Some kind of interaction with AI or real people

Farmville fails #1, for me personally…and again this is a subjective call on my part because I don’t find pressing a button and watching a progress bar that much fun. Sure, you can say that other games I do find fun have the same thing, i.e. MMOs. I’m pressing a button in most of them (1-2-3, 1-2-3) and there are progress bars moving all over the place…both visible and invisible to the player. EXP bar, achievement bars, skill bars. I’ll give you that one…pretty much have to…but it’s kind of like saying a slug has the same intelligence as a human because it too can move on a horizantal plane. So…anyone who thinks Farmville is fun…good for you. I’m happy that you find it fun…seriously I do.

Where Farmville really falls on it’s ass is that it is not challenging. There is no challenge to the player…at all. What it offers to the player is the opportunity to create habits, not challenge. Obsessive compulsive habits. You plant seeds and some, if not all, of these seeds take time to grow. Some of them take days and some just take hours. So, once I plant these seeds I have to wait for them to grow so that I can harvest them at the end of the growing cycle. Oh…but wait. If you wait too long, the plants can wither and die to you have to watch them or your effort is wasted. Think Eve Online when you’re just in a skill training stint and you’ve pretty much got the essence of the challenge and habit forming patterns we’re talking about here. No Eve player will ever tell you skill training is fun or challenging but they will tell you that they try their best making sure they optimize their skill training time. The act of planting, harvesting is always the same. The act of playing Farmville is always the same. Farmville will never go up to the player and throw a curve ball. It’s predictable and all it does is teach the player a habit, which is different from offering the player a challenge. A two year old probably has more challenge putting together a four piece puzzle of Dora The Explorer than Farmiville players have planting seeds. I’m concerned that the Facebook game designers are confusing habit forming gameplay with challenging gameplay. But hey…that’s where the money is so why question the distinction.

I have heard that Farmville is a strategy game of sorts. I can see that. It does have a certain degree of strategy element to it but I wouldn’t even put it above tic-tac-toe at this point. There is no high level organization or thinking required to play Farmville that you would see in even the most basic strategy games. Is it really a strategy game? Depends on how low you bring the measuring stick.

Farmville is another example of the push towards the lowest common denominator in order to make more money for the “recession proof” gaming industry…and that is it. It’s a habit forming activity disguised as a game and monetized, quite brilliantly I might add, to support habits that gamers develop while “playing”. There is a thought that games like Farmville will bring others the world of gaming….well…maybe. If you believe that WoW brought others to MMOs like Everquest or Eve, then I see no reason why you wouldn’t think that Farmville will get more people to pick up games like, say…Civ IV or Assassins Creed. Debatable point to be sure and fun to talk about, but the argument is all hand waving.

On the interaction side, Farmville barely passes. Sure, I can send gifts to my friends. Sure, I can have friends as my neighbor to help chase those pesky raccoons away. The question for me is this: do the interaction choices available to me in Farmville give me the social ties that I am looking for? The answer is “no”. If you’re looking for a social experience, and I’ve said before, there are better offerings out there than Farmville…or any Facebook game for that matter.

“Darren…you douche…you hate Facebook…and Farmville…and babies…and eat kittens”. Honestly, I don’t…hate Facebook ;). Like any tool, it’s just being used incorrectly and for the wrong reasons. Farmville is not a game nor was it designed to be a game. It was clearly designed by people who forgotten what a game is actually is…and unfortunately, the four or five Facebook games that I’ve played so far are all falling into that category. It’s a gold rush, and designers don’t seem to mind trampling all over the concept of good game design in order to be among the first to put picks in the ground. Now, that being said, it is not beyond the realm of possibility that a good game will be made nor does it mean that there aren’t any good ones that are currently buried under the noise that is Farmville…..just, don’t hold your breath.

30 Responses to "Farmville – First Impressions"

I wish people like you would realize that you’re not the demographic that Farmville appeals to. You can insult it all you want, but it’s fun and engaging and just as deep of an experience for a lot of people as your traditional MMOs are to you. And to a lot more people.

Why traditional MMO gamers insist on continuing to pick apart Facebook games that they don’t even like or understand is beyond me. Farmville isn’t threatening you, it didn’t kill your puppy. Did it?

“Farmville is another example of the push towards the lowest common denominator in order to make more money for the “recession proof” gaming industry…and that is it.”

You’re showing a complete lack of knowledge about the space with quotes like that. Developers aren’t making these games the way they do because it’s cheap and “recession proof”. They are making these games because there is a market and a DEMAND for them. Millions and millions of people LOVE these games. Way more people love these games than the AAA MMOs that you write about here.

Just because it’s inexpensive to make and not fun FOR YOU, does not make it lose credibility or its game qualification.

“Farmville is not a game nor was it designed to be a game.”

You are absolutely failing on every definition of game. You have lost credibility as a game blogger who evaluates games just because you don’t enjoy this particular one. Did you know that tossing a ball against a wall with yourself is a game? Your qualifiers for a game are all wrong. A game does not need another person nor an AI. A challenge does not need to be immense to be a challenge.

/agree Darren. I tried it some months ago and stayed with it for a few weeks just to do it. I just got so bored with it I quit using it. You hit all the major points on the head here. Thanks for speaking for the silent majority again.

It’s a good day when Darren and I bash the same game/genre. A good day indeed (and look, on the day it seems we are getting Canada healthcare, coincidence, I think not).

But unless you are part of the scam, I don’t get FB ‘game’ defenders. Are you proud that you find Farmville a challenge? Are you proud that you have grown your farm to X size? Do you really have Y number of ‘friends’ thanks to FB? I mean I know you don’t put raiding or PvP achievements on resumes, but as Darren pointed out, how low do you have to put the bar before you can even call growing a plant an ‘achievement’ to begin with.

Hell I just pulled in some air through my nose, how many achievement points is that, and would you like to be my ‘friend’ because of it?

@Cuppycake – Darren, rather than jumping on the “I hate Farmville” bandwagon on general principles, actually went out and tried the game.

Hey, what a concept!

He didn’t like it, and somehow I think that result was not exactly surprising. As you say, Darren was not perhaps in the prime demographic. But we’re allowed to have opinions on things regardless of that, are we not?

Now Darren tried to draw some conclusions from his experience and fell rather fully into the classic “noobs vs. hardcore” rut. What is viewed as making things accessible or encouraging new players from one angle is seem as “dumbing down” or “lowest common denominator” from another.

And I have to chuckle at Farmville being called out for feeding OCD behavior. Yeah, explain Tetris without going into obsessive behavior. I know people who will play solitaire until they win, dammit! Any decent game engenders that.

Finally, I have to say that generalizing about “social” games with Farmville as your only example seems to be asking a bit much. You can specifically criticize the game and its maker, which has behaved badly by its own admission, but Farmville represents the whole genre.

But your shrill, defensive, and clearly self-serving response seems somewhat over the top, as if Darren had hit a nerve. I mean, you take issue with Darren saying something about “recession proof” but your response is about “millions of players” both of which seem to indicate that the developers are IN IT FOR THE MONEY.

Somebody in business to make money? Again, what a concept!

And, in the end, the fact is that the award-winning poster-child for the genre did a lot of unethical things to get where it is today. And now your company is diving into that realm. It isn’t fair that you get tarred with that brush, but get used to it. Go print out that expose on Zynga and tape it up in your cube to remind yourself what you’re facing.

Not all used car dealers are crooked either, but they all have to deal with how they are viewed and still be pleasant and encourage business. They either do that or they get out of the business or go out of business.

Once you realize it’s basically a little virtual Heath Robinson machine designed to sell you stuff, the um… magic… disappears…

Of course the average MMO wants your cash too but they at least make a bit of an effort. I see the difference being like that of the well-crafted TV ad which makes you laugh or plays with your mind (and then sells you beer) versus the late night ranting BUY BEER NOW, LOSER!! thing.

I have no issues with a blogger saying – “I tried a game and didn’t like it, and here is why.”

However, when game bloggers (who play and know a completely different genre than social games) try to make blanket statements such as “this is not a game”, and “developers are going into this because it is recession-proof” or “facebook is tool being used incorrectly” its bound to get people riled up. Especially with Darren doesn’t play these games regularly, nor is he in the industry making these games. He just looks silly because he has such a one-sided, uneducated opinion when it comes to these games. And he’s preaching to people who are bound to agree with him – which is why mmo bloggers continue to have a vendetta against these games rather than find the successes and good parts about them.

This whole “FB games are evil” bandwagon is pretty irritating. You’re an MMO blogger, cover your MMOs and leave the social games to the people who love them for what they are.

Social games clutter up my Facebook front page. They drive me nuts. Yes I know I can get rid of that stuff, but I’m amazed at how many of my non-gamer friends play Farmville and Mafia Wars. Family, friends, damn near all my friends on Facebook play that stuff. I think I belong to the group “I don’t care about your farm, garden, Family etc.” group because the spam drives me nuts. I checked out some of those games and I laughed. I suppose if I wanted to steal time from my employer I could putts with them there, but that would be wrong. I would never play one of those games on my PC; I have too many good ones to waste time with the social ones. However, if people like them that’s great, maybe they will be like a gateway drug and bring them into our family. One can only hope.

“I have no issues with a blogger saying – “I tried a game and didn’t like it, and here is why.””

…actually, I think that was the gist of the whole article.

“However, when game bloggers (who play and know a completely different genre than social games) try to make blanket statements such as “this is not a game”, and “developers are going into this because it is recession-proof” or “facebook is tool being used incorrectly” its bound to get people riled up. ”

…did you even read my article? Tell me where I said that they are making FB games because they are recession proof? What I said was: “Farmville is another example of the push towards the lowest common denominator in order to make more money for the “recession proof” gaming industry…and that is it.”. Two totally different things.

“You’re an MMO blogger, cover your MMOs and leave the social games to the people who love them for what they are.”

….ummmmm…no. I’ll write about whatever I damn well please…thank you very much.

I understand you love these things…but they are not games, they are habbit forming button pushers pretending to be games….but hey, maybe they’ll get better.

Cuppy: “You’re an MMO blogger, cover your MMOs and leave the social games to the people who love them for what they are.”

These Facebook games are MMOs. Massive, multiplayer and online.

Also they attract a considerable amount of talent and capital that might otherwise make games that we dinosaurs actually enjoy.

Finally not being industry professionals does not invalidate our opinions. In fact it’s not industry professionals who decide what is viable and what isn’t – it’s paying customers. And as paying customers we can see that great casual games that players don’t pay for is a flash in the pan. You can get money for advertising hits but as the internet population becomes more spam resistant over time the value of a browser seeing your corporation’s name will go down. You can get VC and then go for the throw good money after bad business model but the financiers will wise up pretty fast.

Many of the psychological motivators for playing these games (like “I gave you points, could you be a pal and sign up and give me points back please?”) will only work the first few times after which they will go the way of the door-to-door insurance salesman.

People play them when they’re at work being paid to actually do something else. Employers will wise up to that pretty fast.

Ultimately the reason social games are doing so well is because the people who play them don’t perceive them as costing anything. If they do cost something, whether to the player or to people with whom the player is associated on Facebook then that perception will fade and with it the business model.

I challenge you, Cuppy, to name a Facebook game that is upfront about its costs and paid for by the people who play it. And if you can’t name one then that is why your business model won’t last.

The word “social” is their selling buzzword and that’s all it is Robert.

These are not casual games because they are not games at all. You want casual games with soul, go to Popcap…they do it better and give far more value. But I recommend you try out Farmville, just to get a taste of what it offers…

The crux of the matter here is that Darren is exactly right; Farmville is not a game in the traditional sense of the word. Sure, it falls under the definition as “a diversion,” but it requires absolutely no skill to play. Absolutely none. It is, plainly and simply, a timesink. Mindlessly pressing a button and watching a status bar creep up, or (God forbid) paying actual money to force that status bar to creep up faster is nothing more than a conditioned Pavlovian response. It’s ProgressQuest, but instead of being an ironically tongue-in-cheek jab at the dumbing down of MMOs, instead it’s a legitimate business enterprise that’s pulling in more money than any sane person would ever believe.

If nothing else, games like Farmville have shown that, given the choice between lazily pressing a button to get a biscuit and actually engaging in challenging, meaningful activity, most of the human race will lazily press the button EVERY TIME. What’s most frightening about Farmville is the idea that people play it in their free time, rather than just to kill time at their job that they hate. I can’t fathom the rationale behind taking time out of your day to press a button and watch a progress bar creep, but then again the world is increasingly full of morbidly obese shut-ins, so clearly I’m in the minority.

Farmville is a great game. I found an awesome strategy guide and I had a killer farm within 2 weeks. I am already dominating friends who have been playing Farmville for way longer than I have. If you wanna check it out head over to http://tinyurl.com/farmvilledom

Just an fyi, Farmville is not intended to be a “challenging” game. You do need to plan wisely in order to increase your wealth and your xp, so you can acquire “stuff” though. In my opinion, Farmville is appealing to those “gamers” who require creativity above just “clicking” on stuff. Don’t get me wrong, there are people who play simply to acquire more “stuff”, but I personally play to create the most creative and beautiful farm I can.

Oh, and I forgot to mention that in order to make your farm “better”, you must cooperate with other farmers by sharing and sending materials and gifts and fertilizing each others’ crops. Zynga now also offers a co-op option that allows you to work together with your neighbors to earn more coins and XP.